On Wednesday, during the meeting he chaired of the Joint Legislative Committee on the Arts in Sacramento, Senator Ted Lieu (28th District-Torrance) announced that he was sponsoring a bill that would dramatically increase funding for the arts in California after more than a 10 year drought.  Using the occasion of a hearing he called to focus attention upon the results of the recent Otis Report on the Creative Economy, Sen. Lieu spoke about the arts being essential to California retaining its leadership role in worldwide innovation.  Senator Lieu has proposed increasing the California Arts Council (CAC) budget to what it was during Governor Jerry Brown's first tenure, adjusted for inflation:  $25 million.  More details and a bill number will be issued soon.

Additionally, the Vice Chair of the Joint Committee, Assemblymember Ian Calderon (57th District-Whittier), informed the leadership of the Californians for the Arts in a meeting later that afternoon that he had introduced a separate bill in the Assembly that morning calling for increased funding to the CAC, but that he was still determining a specific dollar figure.  He also told them he planned to sign-on as a co-sponsor of Senator Lieu's arts funding bill.

The Otis Report, which has documented the Creative Economy of LA and Orange County since 2007, branched out this year to cover the rest of the state.  It was released on February 6 at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica.  Arts Orange County was one of the sponsors of the event. 

Here are some highlights of the report:

California's creative economy represents:  7.8% of our gross state product and 1.4 million jobs-1 in 10 in the state.  

Orange County's creative economy represents 90,000 jobs, $3.1 Billion payroll, $684 Million in local & state taxes, 522 nonprofit arts organizations, $297 Million income of arts organizations.  More details here. 

SANTORA ARTS BUILDING CHANGES STIR CONTROVERSY

Last year, artists in downtown Santa Ana were encouraged that the new owner of the historic Santora Arts Building stated publicly his commitment to retain the arts-centric focus of the property--especially since the prior owner had first tried to sell it to a church that intended to change the character of the building.  But now the kind of art and artists to be housed at Santora has become a bone of contention as owner Jack Jakosky has begun improvements to the building and sought to attract a new and different arts presence.  More details here.